Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Aha.......got this in my INBOX today. Call it what you want, all of us need some time to just germinate. I'm always commenting to people when I look at art, that I like/don't like the way someone uses their negative space......or has good quiet space placement in their work. This can be applied to life as well as Molly Gordon emphasized in this ezine email.

I'm certainly taking my white space lately. I look forward to the time when it will all pay off for me with lots of passionate work emanating from my studio at the farm.

quoted from Molly Gordon at AuthenticPromotion

Why Your Business Needs You to Do Less, Not MoreGraphic designers and layout people will tell you that white space is what makes it possible for us to register text on a printed page or a computer screen. White space gives order, context, and emphasis to what matters. Without it, everything seems equally urgent and important.

If you’ve ever tried to read an email or web page with long paragraphs, you know what happens when too much content squeezes out the white space. It is hard to track meaning, hard to isolate key points, hard to know how to respond.

The same thing happens when there is not enough white space in our lives. Depending on our individual styles, we may get irritable, weepy, bossy, or simply forgetful. In an ironic turnabout, we may start saying "no" to things we'd like to say "yes" to and vice versa. Play feels like work, and work loses its charm.

On the other hand, when we expand or maintain white space in stressful times, we discover unexpected opportunities and solutions.

When a problem is too big or complex to be solved with available resources, we have to go to another level to solve it. White space helps us find that other level, when pushing harder and moving faster won't work.

If the white space in your life has been shrinking, or if, like me, you need more white space than usual right now, pause. Revise your commitments and declare a moratorium on promises for a few days.

Preserving white space allows the shape of what is truly important to emerge while giving us the breathing room to respond more completely and effectively.

That’s a good thing. Until next week, Molly Gordonhttp://www.authenticpromotion.com

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I finally got back down to the museum today to take some installation shots of the show that opened Saturday night. No, I didn't go around and take pictures of the whole show........I'm being selfish and just taking MY long wall of 17 pieces.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

It's been a busy and exciting couple of days. I'm pooped and will get to bed early tonight probably.

I've uploaded a set of pictures of the Longview Museum of Fine Arts current show, "Coming Home". My work is very favorably shown on an entire wall of the largest gallery. We had a fantastic crowd there and I saw a lot of people I haven't seen in some time and met a lot of new ones.

As most artists know, it's rare that you get invited to show work at your local art museum. I'm honored to be one of 15 artists in this show.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A week ago today, I took twenty four paintings to the Longview Museum of Fine Arts. This is my local home town art museum. I have work in their Permanent Collection. This year marks the 50th Anniversary for the museum. To celebrate this event throughout the year, there will be three large exhibits that will show work from artists who are included in the collections and from artists who live around this area.

I'm proud and honored to be included in the Coming Home exhibit that will open July 19 and run through August 23. My work will be shown on the entire west wall of the Wrather Gallery when you enter the museum.

If you are in Longview during this time, please come by to see the show. AND, if you are there for the opening, please let me know as I will be there.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Busy at the farm. This morning we sat on the front porch drinking coffee and I noted how much Granny's lilies were blooming....give'em water and they bloom like crazy.

DH has been working on the closet in the front bedroom. Old houses don't have much in the way of closet storage so you just have to make do with what you have. We now have two rods on one side for tops and bottoms.......and a higher one on the other end for long stuff. The shelves are WAAY up but I'm tall so will make do until something better comes along. At least the old carpet in now pulled out, and the floor sanded and varnished. There is one more small closet in this room to work on later..............one step at a time. We pulled out an old cabinet and tried to recycle it into shelves in the middle.....however, it is just too big so out it went to the garage. I'll have to be on the look-out for something else for shoes up the middle of the closet...maybe just a lot of wooden cubes attached to the back of the wall.

I'm still waiting for the tile people to show and tell me what's what in the bathroom. We got the new vanity/sink/faucet and lighting installed ourselves. Now to wait for the tile people to tell me when they can do their work. If I didn't know better I would think I was in France where repair people show up 6 months after you call them. I did get a plumber to come out immediately when we called them about the lightning hitting the hot water pipe last week-end though......and it ended up taking out two breakers at the garage apartment and ruining the DISH connection to DH's aunt's television.

Last night we sat on the east porch drank, a glass of wine or two and watched all the fireworks from the nearest neighbors and town...........big display and surprising to me since I've never been over here for the big Fourth of July display before.

I brought a collage from home to put in over the bed to think about.....might work, or maybe better later to put up three very small panels. For now, it's up. When the electrician gets here to do some work in the computer room, I can get the fan re-installed........now it's now functional after taking it down to shortened the "wachamacallit" that hangs from the ceiling. I'll be glad when all the tile boxes and extraneous stuff is cleared out of here and I can move on to another room.

I'm determined not to put too much in any of these rooms with two households of furniture to combine. It will just be given away to family or given to free-cycle after figuring out what goes where. This is an opportunity to clear stuff out after living in one house over 40 years.